What's up with CNN??

I knew I wasn't alone in finding CNN's recent sharp right turn disheartening. But I was delighted to find James Wolcott weighing in during an interview with Salon's Kerry Lauerman:

How much of the blog will be devoted to media criticism?

I'll be doing a lot of it on the fly, just as things happen. I just have to figure out how. I don't want to overlap with what a lot of other people have said. But I do feel like one of the things that has to be ongoing is the deterioration of CNN. What in the world is going on there? I can't even tell anymore if it's malice or just ineptitude.

In your chapter on Fox News, you have a kind of grudging admiration for them, that there's a little more energy in what they do, whether it's propaganda or not.

I actually thought Fox did a better job of covering the Democratic Convention than CNN did. In many ways, they struck me as being more fair than CNN was. CNN would give you a speech then cut to [GOP chairman] Ed Gillespie, who'd criticize it. The worst was that band of schoolmarms they have at CNN who are their pundits. After Al Sharpton made his speech -- a very lively speech, got the audience worked up -- they cut to the panel and the first thing they said was, "Well, the speech went 18 minutes over, and this pushes the event back, and I'm not sure if the Democrats are going to be happy with that." I was like, "Are you guys just standing there with a stopwatch? He got the crowd worked up!" Before, they were claiming that it was "too boring." They're doing that nickeling, petty sort of thing.

Fox did less of that in the Democratic Convention. I think they enjoy it when someone like Al Sharpton cuts loose. It's good TV. At CNN, they're acting like there's a hall monitor. "Please don't run in the hall. Please! No! Everyone needs to walk the same pace."

What is the biggest problem with CNN right now?

There's no one in charge, and I don't think they know what they want to do. I mean, with Fox, you know Roger Ailes is running it, his whip crack can be heard. With CNN, I don't think they know whether they should be imitating Fox, trying to be more authoritative, or what...

...And for me, the big question with CNN is, what is Bob Novak still doing on the air? I honestly do not understand how Bob Novak, with all the slimy stuff he's done over the years, is still not only on the air with CNN, but one of their main players. I think it's an inside Washington thing. It's an elite thing, he's been there forever. They all take each other for granted. They don't see how corrupted they've become. And how sleazy things are. To have Novak sitting on "Crossfire" when they're actually discussing the Valerie Plame case!

Payoff line:

And the "Capitol Gang"! God Almighty, if we could exile them to an island, maybe they would cannibalize each other.

If only.

Go visit Wolcott's blog if you haven't already. Best snark on the web. His take on Wolf Blitzer, CNN Admits It Cannot Prove Authenticity of Wolf Blitzer, is already a classic.